Hey, I haven't posted yet on these forums, I've just been browsing, but I figure this is a great way to get started.
I've been diving for 5 years now, with probably.. 20 dives or so, I don't keep a log. I also don't have my own equipment, I'm 22 going through college, so I'm always broke. A buddy of mine had just finished his open water cert. Last July 4th, we decided it would be a great day to bring him on his first dive since his training. We live in Pensacola, FL, which is about 5 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico.
Of all my dives, this wasn't the worst, but it was pretty close. I went to the LDS to get my stuff. My buddy met me at the LDS, this is when I learned he had his own equipment. So he just pays to have his tank filled and we are on our way. We get to the beach, carry our stuff the 100yds to the shore, and start to set up. Immediatly I realize we are going to have problems. He doesn't have a BC, all he has is a little strap that holds the tank to his back. I point that out to him and he said it works fine for his pool. Knowing full well this is a whole different ball game, I dismiss it. Long story short, he wasn't at all equipped to do the dive, but we went anyway.
We waddle out to the water and lay on our backs, and his tank comes unhooked and floats to the surface. I told him to turn around and I restrap it for him as tight as I can. We snorkle out to the sandbar and begin our descent. We hit the bottom at 14' or well, I do, I look up and see a flailing ball of limbs coming at me. I chuckled a little bit at the sight, but felt sorry for him at the same time, as he also lacked a weight belt. He finally gets everything straight and we begin to move away from the shore. We probably went about 20 yds or so before I feel an arm grab me, I look over and his tank is completely vertical, while he's swimming horizontal. His tank is only held by the regulator in his mouth and the one strap on his octo to his tank strap. I had to laugh at this and I motioned for us to get to the surface. After many explicatives we get everything straight. We had also forgotten some defogger for our goggles so I took this time to properly cleanse my goggles.
Back down we go, and about another 20 yds out I feel myself get stung by a jellyfish, or at least part of one, another 5 yards and both of us are getting stung like crazy. Neither of us are in wet suits as the water is pretty warm, and approaching hot at the surface, so we are getting hit all over by bits and pieces of chopped up jellyfish. I had been grabbing as many as I could with my gloves and moving them out of the way when I could see them, but my goggles had fogged again and I could only see them seconds before they would hit me.
I turned to check on my buddy who was having increasing difficulty but still wanted to press on. When I turn back around I see a huge tail fin, and then another, snap in our direction and then take off into the mist. I turn to my buddy, point in their direction and start to swim faster, he motions NO, and I give him the O.K. sign. His eyes got really big and then he moved even with me and we began to follow the creatures, which I originally thought were dolphins. We didn't see them for about 3 minutes or so, and at this point neither of us could see anything so we ascended from depth, which was now about 22 ft or so. We get up and I exclaim, "Did you see those dolphins?". He pulls his mask up and just stares at me. "Those weren't dolphins, you know that right?". This is when it dawned on me that dolphins have horizontal fins, not vertical ones. "Those were hammerheads", he finishes his sentence. 2 of them in fact, and from what I could tell both at least 5' long.
My goggles let some water drip down into my eyes and I wiped them with my hands, only to then remember I had been brushing away jellyfish with them. Immediate burning pain in both my eyes. That was it. We both headed back to the shore along the surface. I was at about half my tank pressure, my buddy who had been swimming as hard as he could due to lack of bouancy control was at I believe around 300lbs. This took forever, because now his tank wanted to sink, and he didn't have anything except muscles to keep him on the surface, so I helped as best as I could.
This was July 4th of 2004, and we didn't dive again that year. We are planning our next dive for this sunday, and we are both going to be properly equipped this time. Never again will I let anyone dive with me that is improperly equipped. I should have known better, but we were both so excited that I let it go.
Sorry for the long story, but it now something we laugh about on a monthly basis. We both learned a great deal from that and hopefully we will have much more successful dives in the future.
I've been diving for 5 years now, with probably.. 20 dives or so, I don't keep a log. I also don't have my own equipment, I'm 22 going through college, so I'm always broke. A buddy of mine had just finished his open water cert. Last July 4th, we decided it would be a great day to bring him on his first dive since his training. We live in Pensacola, FL, which is about 5 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico.
Of all my dives, this wasn't the worst, but it was pretty close. I went to the LDS to get my stuff. My buddy met me at the LDS, this is when I learned he had his own equipment. So he just pays to have his tank filled and we are on our way. We get to the beach, carry our stuff the 100yds to the shore, and start to set up. Immediatly I realize we are going to have problems. He doesn't have a BC, all he has is a little strap that holds the tank to his back. I point that out to him and he said it works fine for his pool. Knowing full well this is a whole different ball game, I dismiss it. Long story short, he wasn't at all equipped to do the dive, but we went anyway.
We waddle out to the water and lay on our backs, and his tank comes unhooked and floats to the surface. I told him to turn around and I restrap it for him as tight as I can. We snorkle out to the sandbar and begin our descent. We hit the bottom at 14' or well, I do, I look up and see a flailing ball of limbs coming at me. I chuckled a little bit at the sight, but felt sorry for him at the same time, as he also lacked a weight belt. He finally gets everything straight and we begin to move away from the shore. We probably went about 20 yds or so before I feel an arm grab me, I look over and his tank is completely vertical, while he's swimming horizontal. His tank is only held by the regulator in his mouth and the one strap on his octo to his tank strap. I had to laugh at this and I motioned for us to get to the surface. After many explicatives we get everything straight. We had also forgotten some defogger for our goggles so I took this time to properly cleanse my goggles.
Back down we go, and about another 20 yds out I feel myself get stung by a jellyfish, or at least part of one, another 5 yards and both of us are getting stung like crazy. Neither of us are in wet suits as the water is pretty warm, and approaching hot at the surface, so we are getting hit all over by bits and pieces of chopped up jellyfish. I had been grabbing as many as I could with my gloves and moving them out of the way when I could see them, but my goggles had fogged again and I could only see them seconds before they would hit me.
I turned to check on my buddy who was having increasing difficulty but still wanted to press on. When I turn back around I see a huge tail fin, and then another, snap in our direction and then take off into the mist. I turn to my buddy, point in their direction and start to swim faster, he motions NO, and I give him the O.K. sign. His eyes got really big and then he moved even with me and we began to follow the creatures, which I originally thought were dolphins. We didn't see them for about 3 minutes or so, and at this point neither of us could see anything so we ascended from depth, which was now about 22 ft or so. We get up and I exclaim, "Did you see those dolphins?". He pulls his mask up and just stares at me. "Those weren't dolphins, you know that right?". This is when it dawned on me that dolphins have horizontal fins, not vertical ones. "Those were hammerheads", he finishes his sentence. 2 of them in fact, and from what I could tell both at least 5' long.
My goggles let some water drip down into my eyes and I wiped them with my hands, only to then remember I had been brushing away jellyfish with them. Immediate burning pain in both my eyes. That was it. We both headed back to the shore along the surface. I was at about half my tank pressure, my buddy who had been swimming as hard as he could due to lack of bouancy control was at I believe around 300lbs. This took forever, because now his tank wanted to sink, and he didn't have anything except muscles to keep him on the surface, so I helped as best as I could.
This was July 4th of 2004, and we didn't dive again that year. We are planning our next dive for this sunday, and we are both going to be properly equipped this time. Never again will I let anyone dive with me that is improperly equipped. I should have known better, but we were both so excited that I let it go.
Sorry for the long story, but it now something we laugh about on a monthly basis. We both learned a great deal from that and hopefully we will have much more successful dives in the future.
